The Strained Absence of Friendship
by Heachan
Summary: It was a simple mission, but something went wrong and the consequences were devisating. Hey I finally got chapters up.This is the first story of a Trilogy.^-^
1. Zero Problems

*The Strained Absence of Friendship.*  
Disclaimer: No I don't own these awesomely cool characters, they belong to a bunch of people whose names I'd probably spell wrong. I only hope that I kept the characters as close to how they are on the show. This story takes place in AC199, by the way.  
~Part*One~  
  
There wasn't much left to do. Considering how damaged Wing Zero was and with it's pilot in the condition he was in, there were no options left. And yet he still had no idea how he had gotten in this mess to begin with. All he had agreed to was to bring this 'crazy suit' back to the Preventer's ship. Of course on the way, there had been many obstacles: being captured, interrogated, beaten up, used as a hostage...Oh yeah the past forty-eight hours had been eventful, to say the least. But he had always looked on the bright side. Even now when things were definitely not going the way he had hoped them to, he figured someone would come, eventually. He wasn't sure how long he had been there, drifting aimlessly in space. And since most of the system wasn't working and the other half was going haywire, as always, he really couldn't contact anyone. At least the owner didn't know about what had happened to his Gundam...yet. This was definitely one for the books, no one else had managed to ever smash in the entire cockpit before. As that thought went through his mind, some of the controls fizzled. Now was the hard part, trying to stay awake and not allowing the Zero system affect his mind. It's funny how that stupid system was able to take soo much damage and still mess with a person's head. There was a pop from the radio and then static followed by an unfamiliar voice. He opened his eyes when the message started.   
  
"Can...read...?..You...contact....immediately...Can't ...to locate." He strained to turn in the seat to get to the radio. There was a chance it was the people who had captured him and his partner before so he waited to see if it would get clearer. He tried to focus on the knobs to see if he could fix the problem. He didn't realized before that his helmet was cracked a little on the side. He fooled with the knob some and the static came in lower. Whoever was trying to call came back on.  
  
"...Maxwe...read..important...let...know...alright...this...Pre..ters..." He hit the radio angrily. 'Come on Zero, cut me a break this time.' He thought. It was beginning to get colder now in the cockpit. The static was mostly gone now. The stranger tried again.  
"If you can hear this Duo Maxwell, please contact us, th... is a Preventer's Cruiser. We can't locate....Wing Zero until...contact us first." They finished the message. He was still reluctant to answer, unsure if they were who they claimed to be. But his doubt quickly diminished when someone else came on.  
  
"Duo, this.. Quatre. We really need...to let us know if you're okay...I know you...hear this." Quatre said. He sounded very concerned. Duo reached for the button on the radio. The more he reached, the more pain shot through his right arm. The button was barely out of his reach.  
  
On the other side, Quatre waited nervously, listening to the static that came over the radio. He bit his bottom lip while they waited. The other two Preventer's there were ready to give up when the static broke quickly but then came back. There were a couple more breaks in it before they got an answer. Quatre immediately recognized Duo's voice, however he didn't sound as cheerful as usual.  
  
"Qu...Quatre?" Was all he could managed out. "Yeah we're here." Quatre answered, referring to the others. "Are you hurt?" He asked, he figured it was a stupid question but it was buying them time to trace Wing Zero's faint signal.  
  
"Yeah,.. this definitely...isn't good. " Duo answered. One of the other Preventer's looked over at Quatre and nodded.  
  
"Okay we've found out where you are. I'm not sure how long it's gonna take but we'll hurry." Quatre assured Duo.   
  
"And they say..law enforcement isn't dependable." Duo joked. Quatre just shook his head and went back to his seat as the engines picked up speed. They headed in the direction the signal had come from. No one on board noticed the tapping sound over the radio. Someone was listening in on their conversation. Quatre started to relax now that they had located Wing Zero. When he had heard from Hilde what had happened on the way to the Preventer's ship, he knew it was just a matter of time before someone else would find Wing Zero. What had happened was still unclear. Trowa had been injured, just as Duo but he was unconscious at the time that they had escape. Hilde had taken one of the smaller shuttles while Duo piloted Wing Zero. She wasn't too crazy about that idea, she knew what the Zero system was capable of. However they were out of options at that point. It had worked, except when the enemy managed to slam a majority of their mobile dolls into Wing Zero, wrecking most of the cockpit from the outside. The engines were trying to come back on but it didn't have enough fuel left to power them. Apparently the enemy had drained most of the fuel before they escaped. Duo was out of ideas to get it up and running. On occasion some warning would come up on one of the screens, that hadn't been shattered yet. They were usually obvious warnings like: heating system failure, self-detonation mode malfunctions, engine problems. Basically things that couldn't be helped anyway. At that point, he was just relieved that he had a spacesuit on otherwise this would be an even worse situation then it was now. He shifted in the seat trying to get as comfortable as possible. He found it harder to stay awake now. Exhaustion finally set in. He didn't even notice the shuttle that was coming closer to his location.  
  
(A couple hours later)  
The Preventer's cruiser was coming closer to the area located on their screens. At this point Quatre was up in the front again leaning over the radar. It hadn't picked up anything that was big enough to be Wing Zero, yet.   
  
"Hey you don't think that that's..." The other Preventer's voice trailed off. Quatre looked up to see a large amount of debris floating around outside the shuttle. He quickly went to the back and grabbed his helmet off his seat. He left the shuttle to get a better look at what was out there. He hoped his suspicions weren't correct but from the look of things, they were. Most of the debris was Gundanium alloy. There was a larger piece farther away from him that resembled the top half of Wing Zero.   
"No, how could this happen." He said to himself. He looked around for Duo but didn't see any trace of him. There was something else out there that wasn't made of any type of metal. He went over to it. It was a Preventer's jacket identical to his own. In the same area with the jacket were parts that he recognized as being the interior of the cockpit. Quatre hurried back to the shuttle, he couldn't stand to be out there anymore. Once he was back inside the shuttle, he took off his helmet and collapsed in his seat, trying to figure out how this happened. All the facts went through his mind but he couldn't except them. One of the other Preventers came back to him and waited for instructions. Quatre just sat there starring at nothing in particular in front of him. Finally the other Preventer spoke up.  
  
"Do you want us to go out and do a more thorough search of the area?" He asked trying to get Quatre's attention. Quatre just nodded, he figured that he wasn't about to give up so easily. The Preventer headed back to the front and later emerged with the co-pilot. They headed out to continue the search and weren't sure how long they were going to be out there. Quatre remained where he was, still in shock.  
  
"I can't believe this is happening. I just talked to him. How am I going to be able to tell them about this?" He said in a low voice, to himself. The reality of the situation was hard enough for him to acknowledge so the thought of having to tell the others seemed impossible. Several hours later the other two members of his group came in. He hadn't noticed how long they were gone. One of them showed him the jacket.  
  
"I'm sorry but this was all that we could find." The one explained to Quatre as he handed it to him. First Trowa and now this, Quatre thought to himself as he held the jacket.  
  
"Get whatever's left of the Wing Zero and store it in the back. We can't leave it out there." He decided. They went back out to finish the job. On their way to the Preventer's ship, Quatre filled out his report. Every word he wrote was hard but he did it as best he could.   
  
"How can I tell them this?" He asked himself again. He still had no answers and with that, there wasn't much comfort. 


	2. Solutions and Problems

The Preventer's Cruiser landed back at their ship safely. A couple of technicians were waiting to unload the remains of Wing Zero. Quatre wearily stepped out expecting one of his friends to be waiting there but no one was around. That fact alone made his heart sink more. The Preventer's ship was similar to Peace Million in its design. From what Quatre had been told, when it was being built, the Preventer's had Howard design it so that pretty much explained the similarity. He headed for the bridge where Sally Po was. He handed her his report and didn't really say anything, which she found kind of odd. He wasn't sure if she knew his reason for leaving earlier that day. He really hadn't talked to her about it.   
  
"Where is everyone else?" He asked her as she began reading his report. "Heero and Hilde are in the medical section. I think Trowa's okay from what I've been told by your sister. I appreciate her coming in by the way. But everyone else, I'm..not..sure.." She stopped talking once she got to the end of his report. She looked over at him, with a surprised look on her face. She only then realized the sad look in his eyes.  
  
"The pilot has still not been located?" She quoted the ending of his report. All he could do was nod. Sally let the report fall on her desk and covered her mouth with her hand.  
  
"Do the others know yet?" She asked him not looking in his direction. He shook his head."I really have to leave." Was all he said. She nodded her response showing that she understood. He quickly left the bridge and headed for the medical center.  
  
Iria Winner came out of one of the rooms in ICU and headed for the waiting room where Heero and Hilde were. In her hands, she carried Trowa's medical chart. They were both standing. She smiled happily at them and took a seat as did they. She opened up the file and looked over it before speaking to them.  
  
"He's going to alright. It wasn't too serious." She said. Hilde looked relieved while Heero didn't seem overly concerned in the first place but it was still good to know that Trowa wasn't hurt badly. Afterall he had taken care of him when he was injured once. So deep down he was relieved but you wouldn't know it by looking at him.  
  
"Can he have any visitors?" Heero asked in his monotoned way. Dr. Winner sat and thought about it for a while.  
  
"Maybe in a couple of hours. He was awake at one point. I had to let him know what had happened but that was a while ago. Now he's sleeping." She explained and went back to writing some notes in the folder. Heero stood up and turned to Hilde.  
  
"We should go contact Quatre and see how things are at his end." He mentioned, knowing that Hilde was probably wondering about that. She nodded and stood up as well. They were on their way to the bridge when they saw Quatre walking towards them. They stopped and waited for him to reach where they were standing in the hallway. He looked up, surprised to see them.  
  
"Oh, I was just coming over to see you." He admitted. "So how's Trowa?" He asked, trying to buy himself some time to think.  
  
"Your sister says he's going to be fine but he's sleeping now so no visitors till later." Hilde explained. He could tell she was trying to hold back but her voice showed how anxious she was.  
  
"That's good to hear...Um I think that we should go sit down somewhere." He answered still unsure of how he was going to break this to them. Hilde gave him a questionable look and Heero arched an eyebrow.  
  
"What for? And where's Duo?" Hilde finally asked him. Quatre was now out of time.  
  
"I'm kinda tired and that seems like a good idea right now." He remarked trying not to look at either one of them too long. He didn't want the look in his eyes to give anything away. He knew he wasn't very good at hiding his feelings like Heero and Trowa. A look of fear crossed Hilde's face. Heero was beginning to understand what Quatre was trying to tell them.  
  
"Maybe we should go to one of the break rooms." Heero agreed. Hilde was silent as they walked to the closest one. Once they were inside, they sat down on the two couches. Hilde was the first to speak.  
  
"Duo's...not with you, is he?" She slowly asked but it came out more like a statement.   
  
"No he's..not here." He swallowed after his sentence.  
"Did you find Zero yet?" Heero replied. Quatre really didn't want   
to be here now but he forced himself to look at Heero when he answered.  
  
"We found most of Wing Zero." He said, looking Heero right in the eye. He couldn't tell how Heero was going to react. But from the look he was giving him, he knew Heero had figured it out. Hilde cut back into the conversation.  
  
"What do you mean you only found most of it? Where's Duo?" She almost sounded demanding.  
  
"We...we don't know where he is." Quatre finally said, his bangs covered his eyes at that point. Hilde was silent. Actually they were all silent. The silence was deafening to Quatre though. He didn't know what either of them were thinking. Hilde snapped out of the daze she was in.  
  
"Well can't we go look for him? Check the area around the place you found that suit." She was having a hard time saying those words. Quatre didn't have an answer for her.  
  
"I want to see Zero." Heero came back in. Quatre couldn't help but think that that was somewhat insensitive on his part. But he stood up and they followed him out. Hilde trailed behind the two of them.  
"I don't think that she should be coming." Quatre mentioned to Heero.  
  
"She's going to need some kind of proof. If what I think happened did, then I think both of us need to go. And no one is forcing her anyway." He answered. Quatre didn't say anything after that. They turned a corner and Sally and Relena came into view. Relena usually wasn't there, infact Heero wasn't sure why she was. He was glad to see her and all but this was an inconvenient time.  
  
"Heero, I didn't think I'd see you." She said but not as cheerfully as usual.  
  
"Does she know?" He asked Sally. Sally nodded back. Relena walked with them as they made their way to the docking area. She stayed behind Quatre and Heero, knowing that Hilde would be needing a friend right now. And one that wasn't a pilot too. Once they arrived in the docking area, the first thing that came into view was the top half of Wing Zero. Technicians were still getting pieces out of the shuttle.   
  
"Well it doesn't look like it was self-detonated considering all that is left." Heero observed. 'He wouldn't have self-detonated now.' Hilde thought after Heero's remark. She looked up at Zero and backed away from the entrance. She began feeling very sick all of the sudden. Heero pulled Quatre away from the doorway so that she couldn't hear him.  
  
"Did you find anything out there that..resem.." He stopped mid-sentence. He wasn't even sure how to put it into words. Quatre knew what he meant though. He went over to the shuttle and retrieved the Preventer's jacket he had found. He handed it to Heero.  
  
"That's it. There was no other sign of him out there." He explained. The jacket wasn't in the best condition. It was torn on one of the sleeves and ripped along the back. Heero looked back at Hilde in the doorway. Relena had her arm around her and she was leaning on Relena's shoulder. Her face was turned away from him so he couldn't tell if she was crying yet. He wasn't really close to her but he knew what she was going through anyway. He walked over to them with the jacket in his hand. She looked up as he came to the entrance. She saw the jacket in his hand and looked away.  
  
"Hilde..." Heero started but was interrupted.  
"I know what that is." She said in a small voice. She couldn't look at it or Heero. Relena stood back next to Heero. Hilde wouldn't look at either of them and crossed her arms infront of her. Everything was sinking in and she refused to accept it. She finally turned to face them.  
"I'm going home." She declared holding back tears. They both looked at her sadly, even Heero looked sad. She shook her head and looked down.  
  
"He might have gone there." She added quietly and headed to one of the other docking areas away from that one. Relena slipped her hand into Heero's as they watched her leave. He looked down at her.  
  
"I don't think she should make this trip alone." She told him. He nodded back at her and quickly let go of her hand. He followed Hilde down the hallway. Relena headed back to the bridge to find Sally. Quatre decided he was going to the medical area to see his sister and find out how Trowa was doing.  
***  
  
The room wasn't very big, and it also seemed dark. The bed was kind of hard too now that he thought about it, when he had finally woken up. He looked over to see a side table with his gun and helmet on it. There was a slight pain under his left eye. He reached up to feel a cut on his cheek. It hurt to the touch. He sat up slowly and looked around the room. Where was he again? There was a smell of medical equipment in the room. The bed, he realized was one of those metal ones that were never comfortable. Whoever had brought him here hadn't even bothered to see if he was injured. He slid off the bed and forced himself to stand up. His legs barely supported him. He made his way over to the table where his stuff was. He felt kind of dizzy on the way. Once he made it there, he steadied himself before picking up his gun. He knew that he wasn't where he was suppose to be since Quatre wasn't there. He knew Quatre wouldn't have just left him in a room like this, alone. Especially in his condition. He went to the door only to find it was locked. That wasn't a problem, he could find a way to open it. He found the control panel on the wall. It was hard to concentrate on it, however he was almost finished. All of the sudden the door opened but he wasn't responsible. A lady walked in, that he had never seen before. He backed away from the door and pointed his gun at her. She was startled to even see him standing. She quickly put her hands up.  
  
"Oh, your awake. You don't have to wave that thing around yah know." She informed him.  
  
"I do if I don't know where I am or who you are lady." He answered back quickly, trying to hold the gun steady. Someone else followed her into the room. This guy was much bigger then him and he knew he wasn't leaving without explaining himself. The bigger guy didn't put his hands up like the lady had.  
  
"Okay who are you people and where am I?" He demanded.  
"Take it easy Duo, we're not your enemy." The man said. That also ticked him off.  
"And how do you know my name?" He added.  
"We're part of the Sweeper Group but we're from the L3 area." The lady explained. Duo lowered his gun some, a bit confused. He suddenly realized that he did know them, kind of, but it was from a couple years ago. Before Operation Meteor.  
  
"Where are we going now?" He asked, noticing that they were moving and obviously on a shuttle. It was better then being in that cramped cockpit though.  
  
"We're on our way to the L3 area now. You're probably going to need some kind of medical attention." The lady remarked. Duo started feeling dizzy again and lowered his gun completely. Now the man was saying something but Duo didn't hear most of it. Something about Wing Zero.  
"I really need to get back." Duo interrupted looking at nothing now.  
"Are you feeling okay?" He heard the lady ask. He felt his legs give from underneath. He felt someone stop him from falling too hard. They got him back onto the table. Duo looked up wearily. He still wasn't sure what was happening. The lady put her hand on his forehead.  
  
"He's burning up. Go check our ETA." She ordered the man. He quickly disappeared from view. Duo tried to sit up but she pushed him back down gently.  
  
"I have to get back...they don't know where I.." He started slowly.  
"We'll contact them as soon as we get there." She said, not too sure who exactly he was talking about. Something quickly caught her attention. There was a dark spot on his space suit that hadn't been there before. She leaned over to get a better look. It was now clear to her that his side was seriously injured. She called for the other guy to come back into the room. He helped her get Duo's suit off. The side of his shirt was soaked. This was the first time he realized he didn't have his jacket. The lady undid his tie and untucked his shirt to get a better look at his injury. She was trying to determine how deep the wound was. The more she examined his side, the more it hurt. Duo wanted to get up but was too dizzy to even attempt it. The other guy got some gauze and they turned him on the table in order to place it on his side. Everything started to get blurry. The lady looked over at him as he started to glaze over.  
  
"Now come on, you need to stay awake till we get there. Please." She told him in a concerned voice. All he could do was shake his head in response. His side was really beginning to hurt even more as they applied pressure on the gauze. He remembered getting shot but he never bothered to see how badly he was hurt. Now that he thought about it Trowa had been shot as well. Too much thinking.  
  
"Get more gauze, he's loosing too much blood." The lady instructed. It was the last thing he heard before passing out again. 


	3. Trying to move on

Heero piloted the shuttle that Hilde and he had taken to get back to L2. After they landed, they headed for her apartment...or rather Duo's and her apartment. Once they got there Heero headed upstairs to put her luggage away. All Hilde carried was the jacket. She walked quickly through the house, searching the kitchen and the living room. She headed for the basement. Who knows, he might be working down there like he usually was. Heero put her stuff in her room and headed back downstairs. Hilde was now sitting on the couch in the living room staring at a piece of paper on the table. Apparently she had given up on her search. Heero let out a low sigh and walked over to her and sat down. She didn't look at him. There was a long moment of silence. Heero didn't know what to say to her and didn't want to start up a conversation unless she wanted to talk.  
  
"I didn't want to believe this." She finally said. Heero sat back in his seat and nodded.  
  
"I'm sorry." He answered. She was still staring at the piece of paper in front of her. Heero sat up and got a better look at it. It was a marriage certificate. He picked it up and read it, then looked over at her, surprised. He noticed that she had been crying. He put the paper back on the table.  
  
"When?" Was all he asked her.  
"A couple of days before we left to go to the Preventer's ship with Trowa. We couldn't afford anything big...so that's why no one knew about it." She admitted sadly. There was another long moment of silence. Heero wasn't sure what to say again. Hilde sniffed a little and quickly whipped her hand under her eye. She still looked as though she had been crying.  
  
"It's really going to be quiet around here." She remarked.   
"Things will get better,..easier." Heero said trying to sound sympathetic but to him it sounded kind of lame. He had never had anyone try to comfort him whenever he had lost someone so he didn't know too much about what to say now. But for some reason he felt like he had to say something.  
"I hope so..." Hilde answered beginning to show signs of crying again. "I don't see how things could get any worse." She added dropping her head into her hands and sobbing. Heero put his arm around her shoulders and she leaned against him and more tears came.   
  
"This..can't really be..h..happening. He c..can't be gone." She cried out and was now shaking uncontrollable. Heero decided he was going to have to call Preventer's headquarters and ask for some time off.  
***  
  
Meanwhile on the Preventer's ship, Trowa was finally awake and already heard about the accident. Quatre really didn't want to tell him so soon but he knew it was inevitable. He had done the best he could at explaining it to everyone. Sally had given him the rest of the day off as well as a couple days afterward. She knew he had had a rough day like everyone else. She decided to begin the task of investigating the area where they found Wing Zero. She was going to send information to the nearest colonies in that area and let them know about the incident and maybe get some help from them. The next few days were going to be hectic for her and this task was hard enough. She had avoided the situation with Trowa, she was a doctor afterall but felt she was too close. That's where Quatre's sister came in. And now with Trowa recovering, Heero and Quatre off, and Duo missing, possibly dead, she hoped that nothing serious would happen. She was trying very hard to stay optimistic about the situation. Afterall Gundam Pilots were known to be dead before and suddenly show up again, so she had reasoning behind her. Although she did have to look at the other possibility here. She didn't want to seem like this wasn't affecting her but she knew that if Duo was dead, she was going to have to replace him. She also knew that that task wasn't going to be easy considering people with those skills were hard to come by now. Once she had finished up sending out her information she headed for the medical facility to let Quatre know he could leave if he wanted to.  
***  
  
The next couple of weeks passed slowly as there was no reply to Sally's information. Trowa had recovered enough to where he could go home. Quatre came and went, just to see if he was needed, Sally figured he would do that. Wufei was in the Sanq Kingdom, helping Relena install a couple of security systems. Heero would have normally done that but Relena knew he was busy helping Hilde on L2. He seemed to be her phone service since she had been getting so many phone calls lately. Heero finally just had the number changed because people were even calling at night when it was way too late to be calling. He only gave the new number to close friends. Occasionally Relena would call to see if they needed anything or if she could help in any possible way. Heero had really appreciated her understanding and wanting to help, considering how busy she was. Sally called alot too. Usually it was something regarding Wing Zero. Heero finally told her to store what was left of it and not to rebuild it. He knew that if the technicians restored it, at least half of the staff wouldn't be happy. And deep down he knew it wouldn't be the same when he sat in it either. Sally had also asked him about having a funeral. Since Hilde hadn't mentioned anything about it he didn't feel that it was their place to have one without her consent. As long as she didn't bring it up, he certainly wasn't going to. So that question would remained unanswered, especially since Hilde wasn't up for talking much about anything lately. The only thing Heero made sure she did, was eat. As long as she did that, his job there was important. Just as Sally had hoped, not too much happened that she couldn't handle. She had only one occasion where she felt Trowa could have done a better job then the person she had assigned, but she didn't want to ask him. She definitely needed Heero around alot more then she had hoped though. She felt bad calling him all the time when technical stuff wasn't working and no one else knew how to fix it. She had also began the search for a replacement for Duo. As much as she didn't want it to be the case, almost a month had gone by now and there was no word about him from anywhere. She was having a hard time with the people who came in for the job. None of them had any skills that were needed. She had finally hired someone who used to manufacture the mobile suits made at the Victoria base. But they were still inexperienced considering how long ago that had been. Wufei certainly didn't like the new guy very much since it was his responsibility to train him. Sally was telling the technicians where to put some of the equipment away on the day Wufei started training. At one point he was literally yelling at the other guy as loud as he could. Sally looked over and just laughed to herself. Maybe she should have asked someone with more patience then Wufei. She finished typing up some evaluations as Wufei walked over to her in a huff. She stood up to greet him.  
  
"Having some problems?" She asked him.  
"I can't train this guy. He knows nothing." He said getting something to drink from the mini-fridge near her desk.  
  
"I would have never guessed I'd see the day you'd actually miss Duo." She mentioned pushing her chair in. Wufei shook his head and gave her a half-smile.  
  
"Maxwell might have been obnoxious and annoying but he knew his stuff." He admitted gesturing with his drink at the new guy.  
"This guy can't even hack into the easiest program." Wufei explained. She looked over at the new guy who obviously wasn't sure what to do and seemed to making whatever they had been working on worse. He looked over at Wufei and Sally in a panic. Wufei finished his drink and let out a low sigh.  
  
"Guess I better go see what he's ruined." He said and headed back over. Sally picked up her files off the desk and looked back to where Wufei and the new guy were. She could tell Wufei was getting aggravated by his expression as the guy was trying to explain what had happened.  
  
"How'd were you able to completely whipe the entire system out? I told you not to hit those keys. Now we have to start all over again." Wufei said back angrily. Sally had a feeling that the new guy wasn't going to be around for very long at the rate things were going.  
***  
  
Later Wufei told Sally that they would have to install an entirely new computer system and that all of their files would have to be uploaded again.  
  
"You would have never guessed that someone who knew so little could do so much damage." He mentioned  
  
"I think that he's had enough training for the first day." She said holding a phone to her ear.  
  
"I think it's enough forever." Wufei added quickly. Sally just smiled.  
  
"Maybe I can see if Heero can come in and help out with that. Maybe he can even bring Hilde along with him. She could use some time out of the house, I'm sure." She thought out loud. She had been on hold to talk to Une. Finally she was connected.  
  
"Hey we had an accident up here today and will need to reorder some new computers." She explained. She was hoping Une wouldn't be too upset about that considering how much it was going to cost.  
"How many do you think you'll need?" Une asked with a sigh. 


	4. Decisions

It had now been two months since the incident with Wing Zero. The new computers had come on the day before and Heero was able to come and help install them. Hilde even agreed to come along as well. Heero mentioned it to Relena and she had decided she would meet them there and keep Hilde company while he was busy. She hadn't seen him since that day on the Preventer's ship but she didn't make a big deal about seeing him then because she was there to be with her friend and not with Heero. She also reminded herself that even though she hadn't seen him in two months , Hilde hadn't seen Duo in that same amount of time and would never again. With that perspective on things Relena was able to keep her priorities straight. Hilde and she went for a walk around the entire ship. It was going to be a long time before the new computers were going to be in and there wasn't alot to do there anyway. Relena wasn't really sure how to start a conversation with Hilde as they walked. Even though they had become good friends they really didn't have much in common. She finally thought of something to ask that wouldn't upset her.  
  
"So did Heero tell you that I had some new security systems put in back home?" She asked smiling. It was a starting point at least. Hilde nodded her response.  
  
"Yes he told me Wufei put it in for you. Is it working?" She answered but didn't smile back at Relena. Relena figured she wouldn't smile anyway.  
  
"Yeah, although I'm still having problems with the password." She admitted.   
  
"Well what's the problem with it?" Hilde asked seeing if she might be able to help out. She had some experience with security systems.  
"I sometimes will put the wrong code in, yah know if I'm in hurry and hit the wrong button. It starts blinking at me and telling me to put in the second password. But I don't have one of those." She explained. Hilde thought about it for a minute.  
  
"You could try hitting bypass and then reenter that password again and if that doesn't work you can enter a second one if you really want to. But the first way is alot easier to me." She said back. From what Heero had told Relena that was probably the most talking Hilde had done in awhile. She smiled at that.  
  
"Thanks I'll have to try that when I get back. Where'd you learn about that stuff? I mean you even knew the board had a bypass button and everything." She asked her. Hilde didn't answer her but lowered her face instead. Relena noticed and realized it wasn't the best question to ask. She didn't pry anymore.  
  
"So anyway I had two of them installed. One at the office and the other at home." She added now feeling bad.  
  
"They're nice to have and can detect alot of things other then an intruder." Hilde remarked but didn't look back up. There was an awkward moment of silence.  
  
"Did Heero tell you what happened, that they needed to get new computers?" Hilde finally asked. Relena shook her head. Hilde finally looked up when she spoke.  
  
"Wufei was training one of their new guys and the guy completely deleted everything. But luckily they have backups on disks in storage. But all the computers were fried." She said a bit enthusiastically. Or at least more enthusiastic then usual. Relena understood alot of what she had said. She really didn't know much about computers and whenever Heero started talking about them she could never understand the terms he used.  
  
"It's nice to have someone talk about computers and not sound like they're speaking some other language." Relena said back to Hilde. Hilde smiled slightly at that.   
  
"Has Heero ever tried to teach you any of it?" She asked knowing that was who she was talking about. Heero had a laptop at her place and that was usually one of the only things he talked about.  
  
"Not really, he's so busy and I've got alot of things going on now too. Eventually I'll learn that stuff though." Relena answered. They made their way back to the control room where Heero and Wufei were hooking the monitors up on the desktops. Sally was supervising and Quatre was over sitting at one of the desks, reading instructions. Actually he had all of them spread out infront of him and was trying to figure most of them out.  
  
"Why do they always have to have so many pictures on these things?" He asked flipping through them. Sally went over and looked at them as well. Catherine came in with some wires they needed. She handed them to Heero who was behind one of the desks and was having a hard time with the extension cords. Catherine went over to Relena and Hilde.  
  
"When did you get here?" Relena asked Catherine happily.  
"We've been here for awhile now." She answered tossing her hair over her shoulder. They were the only ones in the room that weren't working. There were boxes all over the place as well as plastic and little pieces of Styrofoam. Catherine decided to begin cleaning that up. She got a trash bag and shook it open.  
  
"Hey, where do you want these?" Trowa asked Sally, walking into the room with his arms full of more boxed. Sally put her hands to her face.  
  
"Not more boxes. Don't we have enough in here?" She asked rhetorically. He just stood there, still waiting for intructions. Catherine looked over and dropped her garbage bag.  
  
"You put those down right now. You shouldn't be lifting anything heavy. Not in your condition." She ordered him. He didn't really respond to her. Sally took some of the boxes from Trowa and showed him an empty place on the floor where he could put them down. Once he put them down he went over to the desk near Wufei and Heero.  
  
"So how's it going?" He asked leaning over to see what Heero was doing. Heero stood up and gave him a look.  
  
"We're going to need more extension cords that's how it's going. And we didn't order enough as it is. Why don't you get back here and help me connect these things." He replied. Wufei just stood there pointing at more things for Heero to do. Trowa got behind the desks as well.  
  
"Why isn't Wufei helping more?" He asked Heero as he untangled some more wires. Wufei looked over at them.  
  
"Because I had to put up with the guy who made this mess in the first place while you people were all on vacation. So now I point and you work." He said.  
  
"Some of us weren't on vacation." Trowa muttered to himself. Quatre went over with one of the large sheets of instructions in his hands to inspect the work.  
  
"This one wire goes there, not here." He pointed out moving it over. Sally went over to Relena and Hilde who were just enjoying watching everyone else work.   
  
"Did you want us to do anything?" Relena asked Sally.  
"Well there isn't much for you to do here. Did you want to start lunch though?" She asked. Relena looked over at Hilde to see what she thought. She nodded in agreement.   
  
"Okay then, we'll break in about fifteen minutes." Sally said to them and they headed out of the room. Catherine decided to go help them with that instead of picking up the garbage. There would be more in there anyway by the time she would get back so it was stupid to start cleaning it up now.   
***  
  
Once lunch was made Sally and the guys all came into the break room where everything was. No one really talked much at lunch considering they were all eating. Hilde didn't mind that so much since she knew everyone didn't seem to know what to say around her anyway. At one point Relena asked Heero how it was going with the new computers and he explained it to her but she didn't understand alot of it. While he was talking, Hilde leaned over to Relena and told her she'd explain it to her later. After lunch they went back to the control room and started working again. Relena and Hilde cleaned up everything from lunch and then went to help out with the computers. Heero was surprised how much Hilde actually knew about them. She would point things out that he hadn't even noticed. She was also able to help them out with their extension cord problem and helped Quatre with the directions as well.   
  
"See that's were that part goes but if you put it in backwards it's not going to work. Both ends of that line look the same so you have check the color at the each end." She was telling Sally and Quatre. Sally was impressed with what Hilde was telling them. Later when they were almost done Sally wanted to speak to Heero privately.  
  
"I was thinking about something and I wanted to know what you thought about it." She told him. They were taking the garbage bags to where they wouldn't be in the way.  
  
"What was it you wanted my opinion on"? Heero asked her.   
"Well as you know we still haven't gotten anyone new in yet. This last guy didn't even make it past the first day on the job." She was explaining.   
  
"Plus he costs us alot of money and time." He added. Sally nodded in agreement with that.  
  
"I am very impressed with how Hilde has helped us out today with the reinstallment. I thought that maybe she'd like to work with us more often." She said. Heero didn't answer right away, he was obviously thinking about it.   
  
"So you're saying she'd be replacing Duo." He finally answered. Sally looked away from him sadly. They had stopped walking already.  
  
"I don't really want to call it that." She admitted.  
"But that's what you're suggesting and that's how she'll take it." He remarked.  
  
"It's obvious that he taught her alot of things that are useful and she won't be able to use them anywhere else." Sally thought outloud. Heero closed his eyes and sighed.  
  
"You can ask her but I wouldn't be surprised if she says no." He warned her. They continued on their way and then headed back to the control room. When they got there, Trowa and Hilde were downloading most of the files. Catherine and Relena were moving desks back in place and Quatre was getting disks out of one of the desks and handing them to Hilde so she could upload them.  
  
"There, finished." Hilde announced a few minutes later. "Now all you have to do is set up your passwords and security grid for the files you don't want accessible. Or at least not easily accessible." She said standing up and off to the side as if feeling she was in their way. Heero went over to see how she did with setting everything up. It all looked okay to him.  
  
"Well it's been a long day." Wufei admitted picking up some folders off one of the desks.   
  
"Yeah, I guess we should get going now." Heero said to Hilde. The both of them as well as Relena and Sally went out of the room and towards their shuttle. Sally leaned over to Heero.  
  
"I need to talk to Hilde now so can you and Relena go somewhere else for a couple of minutes. I don't want to seem as though I'm pressuring her into anything." She told him. He nodded his response and got closer to Relena and took her hand. The two of them detoured once they reached the shuttle. Hilde watched them leave.  
  
"Where are they going?" She asked Sally.  
"I needed to ask you something in private." Sally explained. She now had Hilde's undivided attention.  
"I wanted to see if you would considering working with us here. Basically we're having a hard time finding anyone else with the skills required and you seem to know what you're doing." She told her. Hilde was quiet for a while and stared at nothing in particular.  
  
"So I would be taking Duo's place then wouldn't I?" She asked back.  
"Actually yes you would but I think he'd be okay with that." Sally answered her.  
  
"I don't know if I could do that." She admitted sadly. "I'll have to think about it." She added. Sally was happy that she would at least do that much. Heero was waiting for Sally to let him know when he could come back over.   
  
"I actually enjoyed today." Relena told him. He gave her a slight smile.  
"That's because you didn't have to do any of the dirty work." He said back.  
"If you didn't like doing it then you wouldn't have agreed to come and help today." She shot back. He had to admit she was right. He looked back at Hilde and Sally talking.  
  
"So do you think she's any better now?" He asked her.  
"Yeah, we had a couple of nice conversations. She's starting to act like herself again." She answered. He looked at her again a bit concerned.  
  
"I hope she takes the offer Sally gives her to work here." He remarked. Relena was surprised he would confide in her like that. She usually had to force that kind of information out of him...or someone else. But she knew how he felt anyway.  
  
"It would be good for her. She really enjoys the work. And maybe then you wouldn't feel like you'd have to stay with her so much." She added.  
  
"I don't mind but it is temporary. I knew that from the beginning. The places I live are always temporary." He replied. Sally looked their way and they both went over to her. Hilde had gone to the shuttle already. Sally gave Heero a confident smile. He headed towards the shuttle and they took off shortly after that.  
***   
By the time they got home it was dark and Hilde went straight to bed. L2 wasn't too far from the Preventer's ship but the whole day had been exhausting. Heero decided he had a couple of things to do before bed. He first called Sally to let her know they had made it there okay and to see how everything had gone before with Hilde. He hadn't asked her on the way home and she didn't offer him any information, which was how things always had been between them. He knew that Hilde probably just figured that if he really wanted to know something, he's find out somehow. He went into the kitchen and got something to eat before heading up for the night. Once he was done he made sure the doors were all locked. He heard something upstairs but couldn't figure out what it was. He headed up to get a better idea.  
He cracked the door to Hilde's room. She was sitting at the end of her bed, holding something, and crying. He opened the door all the way and stood there. She looked up quickly at him and then dropped her gaze just as fast.  
  
"I thought you were going to bed." He asked but it sounded more like a statement. She shook her head slowly.  
"I can't." She said back. He came in and sat down next to her. She was holding the Preventer's jacket from before.  
"Don't you think your giving up too quickly? You just got up here." He pointed out.  
"That's not it. I can't be part of the Preventers." She replied. Heero had a feeling that was what she meant.   
"I can't replace...him." She spoke softly, sniffing a bit.  
"No one is asking you to." Heero answered. "It would just be a nice change."   
"Do you think he'd be okay with it then?" She asked him.  
"Probably but then again this is something you have to decide on your own." He remarked. She whipped her face with her hands.  
"I don't know what to do." She realized. Heero got up from the bed. He knew what she really needed was some time alone.  
"You don't have to decide tonight. We'd all like it if you agreed to help but if you don't, that's fine too. Whatever you want to do, the rest of us will be okay with your decision." He said heading for the door.  
"Now try to get some sleep." He added.   
  
He went to his room and unpacked his laptop. He knew she had a point and if she didn't join, he wouldn't blame her. He wouldn't want to take Duo's place either. Even staying with Hilde, he didn't consider himself taking his place. This was the only thing he could do. He had felt this mess was kind of his fault. It was his mobile suit afterall. He knew that he really should be watching Relena but she didn't need him right now as much as Hilde needed someone.   
  
And no one else was offering so he took the responsibility himself. He knew Duo would have appreciated it. And besides there had been times when Heero was unable to watch after Relena and Duo stepped in and kept on eye on her for him. Heero had never really shown any appreciation and thought Duo didn't protect Relena as well as he did at the time. But now that he thought about it that was one of those brief moments when Duo was actually serious about his job. Even if Heero had shown any thanks, Duo would have probably just acted like it was no big deal. He realized he did kind of miss him.  
  
Even that day, when Wufei was bossing him around, he had thought of things that Duo probably would have said just to get on Wufei's nerves. He turned off his light and got into bed. He didn't hear Hilde crying so much for the rest of the night. 


	5. Dead or Alive

It had now been three months and Hilde had agreed to help the Preventers. Heero and she made alot of trips back and forth from L2 to the ship. This past month alone they had made at least one to two trips a week. Hilde was actually enjoying spending her time like this. Even if it was hectic and there was always alot of running around, she seemed to be preoccupied with her work. She was starting to act alot more like herself again and Heero didn't hear her crying at night nearly as much as before.  
  
Things were definitely better now. Heero wasn't sure how much longer he'd be staying on L2 now. Hilde didn't need him as much although they had been traveling together so in a way he felt he was still needed. Things were beginning to get alot more busy on the Preventer's ship. In one way that was good and in another, it was bad. For one thing they had located the group that had attacked Trowa, Duo, and Hilde three months ago. They all worked hard on that case but were having a difficult time finding any proof other then two of their own people as witnesses.  
Most of the staff remained onboard instead of travelling there every day. The case droned on for several days and everyone was beginning to get tired of it. But there was still no new evidence and without it there was no way these people would be held responsible. As a result of this everyone spent long hours searching and even lost sleep at times.  
***  
  
She wasn't expecting him to be awake when she came into the room but he was trying to sit up when she entered. He had woken up a couple times before but was never really awake. He wasn't sure how long he had been asleep but he still felt tired. He laid back since he was too tired to get all the way up. He recognized the nurse that had just come in as the lady from the shuttle.  
  
"Where am I?" He asked, his voice almost didn't sound like his own. He swallowed, hoping that would help. The nurse went over to the bed.  
  
"We're on L3." She answered him. "You've been asleep for quite awhile now."   
  
"How long have I been here?" He remarked, rubbing the side of his head.  
  
"It's been about three months." She finally told him. His eyes got wide when he heard that.  
  
"Three months? I knew I liked to sleep but that's kinda too much even for me." He admitted. She sat down at the end of the bed.  
"Do you remember what happened?" She asked looking at him. He looked back trying to think and then finally nodded his response.   
"I have to make some phone calls." He decided trying to sit up again but still couldn't.  
  
"Well I can bring the phone over to the bed, however we did try to contact the Preventers and had no luck." She explained.  
"That's fine I have another number I can use." He said back. Once the nurse brought the phone over and was out of the room, he called headquarters. The phone started ringing.  
  
"Come on someone has to be at their desk." He thought outloud. Finally an answering machine came on that had voice-mail options. He figured Heero would be there, in the near future since he was a work-a-holic so he chose to leave one for him.  
  
"Hey where are you guys? This is Duo, I'm on L3. I just woke up in some hospital. Anyway I hope you get this soon. I'll try to call later." He ended the message. He sat there trying to think of how else he could get in contact with them. Then he realized he should call home. Being away for three months with no one knowing where he was probably wasn't such a good thing. Hilde was probably worried about him. She usually was when he disappeared and that was only for a few hours, this was alot longer. He waited while it rang but there was no answer. It finally just disconnected which never happened before to him. He decided to try her at their shop but no one was there either. Luckily they had an answering machine there.  
  
"Hey Hilde, it's Duo. I know that you're probably finding this kinda weird. I'm on L3 and I'll try to call you later. Sorry this is so short. Bye." He ended it and hung up the phone. It had been three months afterall so did he really want her to find out he was alright from a message. He thought about deleting it but he also didn't know when he'd be getting out of the hospital. He had a feeling he was going to be there a little longer. Especially considering how bad he felt. 'Don't they believe in drugs here?' He thought to himself, putting the phone on the nightstand nearby. The stretch to do that alone hurt. He settled back down under the covers and tried to figure out how he was going to get out of this hospital. He could pull a Heero and escape but that idea didn't seem rational. The even better question here was how he was going to get back to L2.  
***  
A couple more weeks went by and the remaining evidence was discovered. What few mobile dolls the group had left were found along with their shuttle that Trowa and Hilde both identified as the same one they had been on. The case was now at an end, which had everyone relieved. Heero finished typing up the last piece of information for their files and shut down the computer. Hilde came into the room as he stood up and stretched.  
  
"Are you ready to head home?" He asked her, picking his jacket up from the chair.  
  
"Actually by the time we get back it's be around dinner time. Do you want to go out to eat tonight?" She suggested. He agreed that it was a good idea considering all the work they had been doing lately. They got to their shuttle and headed to L2. They found a pretty nice place to eat, L2 wasn't known for being very classy. Half way through dinner, Heero got a call from Sally.  
  
"What do you need?" He asked her, hoping it didn't involve him having to come back in order to fix something. He wished he wasn't so easy to get a hold of now.  
  
"Well I was wondering which file you put that last report in. Une wants a copy sent to her so I need to find it." She explained. Heero got up from the table and went into the lobby to give her the instructions to finding the file.  
  
"Oh so there it is. Thanks, I wouldn't have been able to find it otherwise. Have you talked to Une lately by the way?" She asked him.   
"No I haven't. Why was there something she wanted to tell me." He said back.  
"Oh, it's nothing important, she was just going through the messages and noticed that you have two from last month and thought that you should know about it." She answered him.  
  
"I'll be sure to check them." He promised her, not giving too much   
thought to it. Everyone knew to call him either at Hilde's or on the Preventer's ship. He ended the conversation with Sally and called the other number to delete his messages.  
  
"You have two new messages." The machine told him. Guess I should listen to them. They're probably stuff I already know about though. The first one was from Relena.  
  
"Hey Heero, I was just checking to see if you were going to be in New York any time soon since I am going to be there for a few days. I was just going to have someone there relay the message to you. Guess I'll try to call you later." That wasn't very important. The next one came on.  
  
"Hey where are you guys." It started out. Heero barely recognized the voice. "This is Duo, I'm on L3. I'm just woke up in some hospital. Anyway I hope you get this soon. I'll try to call later." Heero was so surprised that he couldn't move. At first he was so relieved that Duo was alright but then realized he's been alive all this time and this was the first time he had tried to make contact with them. And what about Hilde? Did he really want to tell her right away. He wasn't even sure how she'd take it or if she'd even believe him. Plus that message was from awhile ago so where was Duo now? All these questions went through his head as he went back to the table.  
  
"Are you okay? What did Sally want?" Hilde asked him. He sat down not saying much and trying to get his thoughts together.  
"She was just looking for that last report." He told her as he was about to eat his dinner.  
"Oh is that all. From the look on your face I thought something bad had happened." She smiled and continued eating. I really hope Duo's alive and that that wasn't someone's idea of a bad joke. Heero thought as he finished eating. They got back to the house a little after seven o'clock. It had started raining outside now and was getting colder. Hilde put the kettle on for some tea. Heero was now in the living room with the news on. He was also talking to Relena. She was surprised he was calling so late, it was eleven o'clock in the Sanq Kingdom. He told her about the message he had received and made sure to keep his voice down so that Hilde couldn't hear him.  
  
"So are you going to tell her?" Relena asked him curiously.  
"I'm not sure how to. And I don't want to get her hopes up. What if it was a prank?" He asked her back.  
"Do you honestly think it was a prank?" She said. "I know that your now stuck in the middle of this Heero but you put yourself there." She reminded him.  
"I know I did. This is just going to have to take alot of thought." He admitted. He heard Hilde coming his way.  
"So anyway we found all the proof we needed and now the case is over." Heero said in his monotoned way, that threw Relena completely off. Hilde had just come into the room with two mugs.  
"What are you talking about now?" Relena said back into the phone.  
"Hey Hilde's here, did you want to say hi?" He replied. Relena figured it out. Hilde perked up when she heard her name.  
"Is that Relena?" She asked putting her mug down on the coffee table. He nodded once back.  
"I have to go, tell her I'll talk to her next time. It is afterall late here." She reminded him. Their conversation ended and Heero explained to Hilde why Relena couldn't talk to her right then.  
"I don't get why you called her so late anyway." She teased him. He just shook his head.   
  
After the news was over they decided they should go to bed. Even though it was still kinda early, it had been a long couple of weeks. Hilde headed upstairs as Heero checked all the locks as he always did. About an hour later he could hear her crying in her room again. She hadn't done that the entire time they were on the ship. He grabbed his robe and headed down the hallway to her room. He opened the door and she was sitting up as usual with a tissue in her hand.  
  
"Did I wake you up." She asked him as he came in.  
"What's wrong?" He said, sitting down but already knew the answer.  
"My feet are cold." She explained. Heero practically fell off the side of the bed.  
"That's why you're so upset?" He replied. She shook her head almost laughing.  
"This is the first time it's been really cold here since Du..since he hasn't been here." She said back. He thought it was strange how she avoided saying Duo's name but now that he thought about it, she hadn't said it for awhile now anyway. He also realized he had forgotten that the two of them were married for about a week before the accident. He really wanted to tell her about the message but wasn't sure if it was the best time. The rain was still pouring outside. It was definitely not a good night to be outside. Heero went over to her dresser and got some socks and handed them to her.  
  
"I once told you that things were going to get better. Well do you think they have?" He asked her as she took the socks.  
"Sometimes it is better, just not now." She said after blowing her nose. "I should be okay now." She told him. He gave her a questioning look then decided he was too tired to make sure she was okay. So he headed out into the hallway and shut her door behind him. On his way to his room he heard something else in the house. It wasn't coming from Hilde's room but downstairs. An unsettling feeling came over him as he listened to this strange sound. Whatever it was he was going to find out. 


	6. The Strained Absence ofpeace and quietne...

He hurried into his room quickly and got his gun. He wasn't even sure if it was loaded but there was no time to check. He quietly went down the stairs sideways. Something was definitely not right. He first checked the front door, the lock was undone and there was no sign of forced entry. But he remembered he just checked it before. He was way too tired for this kind of thing. He heard something from the kitchen and headed that way. He moved across the living room, staying in the shadows. The carpet was damp under his feet. He reached the doorway and concealed himself against the wall, out of sight. From where he was standing he could make out the person in the dark. He went for the light switch and the person didn't face him once the lights came on.  
  
"Who are you?" He demanded, cocking his gun to the person's back.  
"Well isn't that a nice welcoming." Came the snotty response. The stranger turned around and Heero didn't seem very surprised when it turned out to be Duo.  
  
"And you're in my house afterall." He added with half a grin. Heero put his gun down and just shook his head.  
"I should have known it was you. Not too many thieves raid the fridge first." He said. Duo looked kind of offended by that but quickly shrugged.  
"Well I'm not normal anyway." He admitted heading to the table. Heero regarded how slow he was going, he could only figure he was still hurt. Even after all this time. He got something to drink and went over as well. He put his gun down next to his glass.  
  
"And here I had hoped you'd given up that nasty habit." Duo said as he ate. Heero was getting tired of the small talk from him.  
"So why'd you come here so late and on a night like this?" He finally asked what had been bothering him for awhile now. He hadn't realized how wet Duo was from the rain. He was drenched and a puddle was beginning to form under the table.  
"Well this was the only time a shuttle was coming here from L3. I was just going to sleep on the couch for tonight." He explained getting up to put his plate in the sink. He grabbed one of the dishtowels and tried to dry himself off a little bit. Heero perked up all of the sudden.  
  
"So what did you do to Zero?" He asked in a demanding way.  
"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything to it." He answered obviously not knowing what had happened to it.  
"There's almost nothing left to it now. Quatre found it in space and it was pretty much destroyed. That seems like your handy work." He said still waiting for an explanation. Duo held his hands up.  
  
"Hey it was in one piece when I last saw it. Well except for the cockpit being all smashed up." He admitted and sat back down at the table.  
"There wasn't anything left of it? Some people who are part of the Sweeper Group found me. But I don't remember them mentioning anything about it blowing up." He added.  
"Well that's how Quatre found it and you were nowhere in sight. It didn't look very good." Heero said back. Duo was looking down obviously thinking about what Heero was telling him. He quickly looked up, his eyes full of concerned.  
  
"So you guys all thought I was dead? I figured Quatre would find Wing Zero empty and figure it out. I didn't know it exploded." He said almost defensively. "Oh man she's gonna kill me over this one." He added referring to Hilde. Heero heard something from upstairs. This was a familiar sound though. He stood up and got his gun off the table.  
"You better go explain this to her then. She at least deserves that much, considering what she's been through." He said leaving. Duo let out a sigh and nodded in agreement.  
"And clean up your mess." Heero finished the conversation and headed upstairs.  
***  
  
He went up the stairs quietly, just in case someone was sleeping. The closer he got to the one bedroom door, the more he could tell she was crying. He opened the door and saw her back was to him. This was going to be hard. How was he suppose to explain this kind of thing to her. And would she be mad at him or just glad to get that kind of news. All of this went through his mind as he got to the bed.  
"I'm sorry I woke you up again, Heero. I must be having a bad night." She mumbled from the pillow. He sat down on the bed, near the top. He sat there for a while, still not sure what to do, he really didn't even have the right to apologize. She sniffled a bit but still didn't turn to see him there. He finally put his hand on her shoulder. She took a deep breath as he leaned down.  
  
"I'm really sorry." was all he could think of saying to her. She didn't understand or even know who said it. At that she finally turned around. Her eyes met his and she covered her mouth when she realized it wasn't Heero. Duo really wasn't sure what to do now, he had never felt so uncomfortable around her before. She backed up a little from him then shook her head and looked down sadly.  
  
"No..,you're just not real." She said, putting her arms around herself in comfort. Duo just sat there shocked but he didn't move from where he was. She started to sniff again and moved towards him.  
"I don't care though." She added crying even more. Duo put his arms around her and let her cry into his neck.   
"I thought I'd never see you again." She muttered against him. For once he had nothing worth saying. He knew that he had hurt her even if it wasn't his fault, he still took responsibility for it.  
"I won't leave like that again." He said softly. She looked up at him and he gave her half a smile, still not sure of what she might say back.  
"Just be quiet." was the sweet response he got and she hugged him tighter. He was still sore but didn't want to pull away. He owed her at least this one moment so he just sat there, wincing in pain. She finally pulled away from him and sat up noticing how wet she was now. He couldn't help but grin at that.   
"Aw, you got me all wet." She said shaking her hands. That made him smile even more.   
  
"This was suppose to be a nice quiet romantic moment and now it's ruined." She added. It was clear that she wasn't mad at him. Duo leaned over, a couple of drops flew at her off him. "Well we never seem to get those moments anyway." He answered. She pulled him closer to her face. "Didn't I say to be quiet?" She reminded him, not giving him a chance to answer. Heero thought about calling Relena to let her know what had happened but it was alot later now. He did call the Preventer's ship to let Sally know about the visitor they had had that evening.  
"I can't believe it after all this time has gone by." Sally said after Heero had told her that Duo was alive. "What does Hilde have to say about this?" She asked.  
  
"I wouldn't know since I haven't talked to her about it yet. But Duo's explaining it to her now so I figured I won't have to tell her anything. He can probably explain it better then I could anyway." He told her. "Well I need to get going, I keep saying I'm going to go to bed early but stuff keeps getting in the way. I'll see how things are tomorrow." He ended the conversation and headed up to bed.  
***  
  
The next morning Heero was the first one up. He went down to the kitchen and turned on the coffee, then decided to see if they were even awake yet. So he went back up and cracked Hilde's bedroom door. They were still in bed, Hilde looked very content with Duo's arms around her. 'Guess she didn't kill him afterall', he thought closing the door. Actually they both looked pretty happy now that he thought about it. Heero knew that he wasn't staying there much longer. Then he thought about how Relena would feel about that and he realized how he missed spending time with her. He went back downstairs. He wondered if Hilde was going to cook this morning. She hadn't since the accident almost four months before.   
***   
  
Hilde yawned and stretched some as she woke up. She moved to get up from the bed only to hear Duo behind her. She looked back at him, realizing he wasn't up yet and shook her head. Things had definitely gone back to the way they were before, which she had missed. She moved out of his grasp, causing him to stir even more and turn over. She pulled the covers up to his shoulders and straightened up, still looking down at him. She didn't want to leave but knew she was in need of coffee. She turned toward the door to get her bathrobe. She figured Heero was already awake, as she usually found him downstairs working on his computer or watching the news. A while later she headed down in her robe. Heero looked up as she entered the kitchen. She definitely seemed alot happier then when he last saw her. She poured herself some coffee and sat down at the table across from him. He didn't look up from his laptop as he typed. Hilde just sat there drinking her coffee.  
  
"So did you notice that we had a thief break in last night?" Came a monotoned question from across the table. She looked over.  
  
"Oh we did? I guess you took care of it then didn't you." She answered smiling at him. He usually didn't make jokes so she guessed it was one of those unusual times when he decided to be funny. There weren't too many of those.  
"I still thought the whole thing wasn't real until I woke up." She laughed. Heero put the screen on his laptop down.  
  
"So he's still sleeping?" He asked her. She nodded back.  
"Yeah I figured I'd let him sleep in this one time. Did you eat breakfast yet? I could make us something." She offered standing up.  
  
"You don't have to feed me even if I don't eat as much as some people. So, did you get any information out of him?" He replied leaning on the table.  
"To tell you the truth he offered the information but I didn't want to hear it. I'm just glad he's okay." She answered. "Did you let any of the others know yet?" She added.   
  
"I called Sally just to give her a heads up in case Duo decided to go to work." He replied.  
"Well either way, one of us is out of a job. But I wouldn't mind it if she gave him back his old one." She picked Heero's mug up off the table and brought it over to the counter along with hers.  
  
"Did you want more?" She looked over her shoulder to see his reply. He nodded to her. She refilled his cup along with her own and brought it back over. She sat back down and let out a sigh.  
"So what are your plans today Mr.Yuy?" She asked sipping her coffee. She never really referred to him like that before.  
  
"Well I didn't have too much planned. I was going to see if Relena wanted me to come to the Sanq Kingdom. I figured she has plenty of room for me there. Plus I think I should spend some time with her." He explained. Hilde put her cup down.  
  
"You mean your leaving?" She asked in surprise.  
"Well since Duo's back you really don't need me around. I'm sure the two of you don't want me here." He answered. She looked down.  
"I didn't really give it much thought. I like having you around, you're a good listener." She admitted. "If it makes you feel better, I've always felt welcomed here. But now since the two of you are married I know you'll be better off without me. And trust me I don't think I want to be around a bunch of newly-weds. This is what's best for everyone." He told her. She looked back up at him and smiled as if agreeing with him. She glanced down at her watch and stood up.  
  
"I'm gonna have to go get dressed. I was going over to the shop today to do inventory. I'd better get the sleepyhead up as well. It's his business too afterall." She said leaving the kitchen and going upstairs. Heero was glad she didn't make too big a deal about him leaving. The phone on the wall rang and he answered it.  
  
"Hey Sally told me about last night! So Duo's okay then?" Quatre's excited voice came on. Heero had to pull the phone away from his ear.  
"Yes he's alright. Why are you yelling?" Heero remarked.  
"It's a bad connection. I just wanted to double-check that with you. Is he there? Can I talk to him?" Quatre was being very impatient but Heero understood why.  
"He's still asleep but I'll let him know to call you alright?" Heero said.   
"Okay." Heero could hear the disappointment in his voice. They ended their conversation. Heero went back over to the table and started typing again.  
***  
  
"Hey get up, it's late." Hilde said softly in Duo's ear. She was sitting on the edge of the bed. Duo just rolled over and didn't answer her. She tugged on his hair a little bit.  
  
"You can't stay in bed forever." She told him. He still didn't give her an intelligent response. She was becoming impatient and got off the bed.  
"Okay fine then you don't want me to make you breakfast. Guess I'll just go make something for Heero instead." She said leaning on the bedpost, waiting to see if he'd get up. He lifted his head above the covers and looked at her sleepily.  
  
"What are you making?" He asked.   
"Oh whatever you want." She smiled as she stood up. He looked at her as though he was thinking hard about it.  
"This could take alot of thought." He said finally, tossing the covers off. "Afterall I didn't get any options at the hospital." He added making a face. Hilde was trying not to laugh. He was still in his Preventer's uniform...or what was left of it. His pants were all wrinkled. Hilde went over to the heater to get his shirt and tossed it to him. He sat on the side of the bed, buttoning it. She looked at the bed and sighed.  
  
"You still managed to get the blankets wet. Now I'm gonna have to do laundry." He just stretched and smiled at her.  
"Yeah well you could have always kicked me out." He answered and headed for the door.  
She just smiled back and began pulling the blankets off the bed.   
***   
  
Downstairs Duo got himself some coffee. He was still tired and hoped that it would wake him up. Heero was still at the table starring at his computer screen. He didn't look up from it either when Duo sat down.  
"Quatre called for you." He announced still not looking up.  
"Thanks, you not the cutest secretary but you do a good job at least." Duo joked back. Heero glared over at him.  
"Did I mention how quiet it was around here when you weren't here." He said.  
"Ouch you didn't have to be like that. I was just playing with yah." Duo remarked sitting back in his chair. Heero let out a low sigh.  
"Sorry but I'm busy here." He explained. Duo perked up and leaned over with a big grin.  
"So did yah miss me?" He asked still smiling. Heero grit his teeth and looked back over again trying to show he was getting aggravated. That didn't help though and never had.  
  
"Yes, Sally would tell me to do assignments that I wished I was working with someone who knew what they were doing. I don't know how some people got jobs there." Heero admitted. Duo sat back happily holding his cup with both hands.  
"Yup, I knew they couldn't replace me. I should ask for a raise when I go in next." He boasted. Heero just went back to his work. There was a brief moment of silence.   
"So did everyone else miss me?" Came another question from across the table. Heero finally shut the laptop and pushed it away. He wasn't going to get any work done that morning.  
  
"Yes, everyone else missed you too." He answered. Duo thought about that happily as well.  
"Since your so chatty all of the sudden, what's this about you being married?" Heero brought up. Duo just looked over at him and shrugged.  
"Seemed like a good idea. I figured there was no point in waiting. Afterall I could be dead tomorrow if yah think about it." He said a bit sarcastic. Heero just closed his eyes and let out another sigh.  
  
"Yeah, that sounds like you alright. Besides I don't know too many people who would put up with you like Hilde does." He muttered under his breath. Duo didn't seem to hear him since he quickly changed the subject.  
"Even Wufei missed me?" He thought outloud. Heero looked over at him again in disbelief but answered anyway.  
  
"Yes, he was alot crankier when you weren't around." Duo was surprised at that.  
"Actually Sally had Wufei training the guy that was suppose to replace you and the guy completely fried their computers and they had to get an entire new system. It was such a mess. That guy didn't last long though." Heero explained. Duo looked at him in shock. He probably never heard Heero say so much in one sitting. Hilde walked in putting her basket of laundry down and went over to the fridge. Duo finished his coffee and put his cup down.  
  
"Yeah well that's what they get for trying to replace me. It's not an easy task." He bragged putting his hands behind his head and sitting back. Hilde looked up from behind the fridge door.  
  
"Yeah...um that's crazy..he he." She said then disappeared back into the fridge. Heero shot her a look but she dodged it. Duo followed his glare.  
"Okay, somethin's going on here that I don't know about. I'll find out anyway so you might as well tell me now." He demanded. Hilde came up from behind the door with some eggs and shut the door behind her.  
"I don't know what you're talking about." She lied. He walked over to her and looked right at her. "Your a bad liar yah know." He mentioned. Heero just sighed.  
"Fine I'll tell you. Sally really needed help on their ship after you had disappeared so she offered Hilde a position." He said. Duo looked back over at Hilde a bit surprised. She smiled nervously and held the eggs up.  
  
"How'd you want your eggs?" She asked still smiling. Duo turned back to Heero instead of facing Hilde, that made her more nervous.  
"So you joined the Preventer's, huh?...." He reiterated acting as though he was thinking hard about it. She gulped and nodded. Heero knew he wasn't mad at her about it. Duo finally turned around and smiled at her.  
  
"That's great! Now we can work together even when I'm out of town. And you won't have to worry about me anymore." He said cheerfully.  
"I don't know if I'll worry any less about you just because I'm there. But I'm glad your okay with it." She said back putting the eggs down on the counter.  
  
"Hey after breakfast did you want to come with me to the shop to do inventory? It's gonna be fun." She suggested getting a skillet out as well. Duo looked down at his uniform then back at her.  
  
"Sure but I need to change first. The hospital did wash this for me but still." He answered and left the room to go upstairs. Hilde turned back to the counter and started cracking a couple of eggs on the side of a bowl. Heero went back to the laptop now that he had a chance to actually get some work done.   
***  
After doing the inventory, Duo brought Hilde out for lunch, then they headed home. They had alot of time to make up for. When they got there Heero had all his stuff packed and by the door.  
  
"Well that was quick." Hilde noticed as they walked in. He came out into the living room as they shut the door behind them.  
"It's nice to see you at least waited until we got back." Duo said to him.  
"Actually there's a reason for that. Sally called and wants all of us to get to the ship as soon as possible." He told them.  
"Really, we just got back from there last night. What could be so urgent?" Hilde asked him. He put his jacket on and put his last piece of luggage down.  
'I don't know but she said it was important." He added. They got what they needed and headed out the door. 


	7. Reunion finale

"Man, I have this bad feeling that we've made this trip before." Duo said putting the shuttle into autopilot. "But this time we don't have that stupid suit of yours with us." He added looking over at Heero. Hilde poked her head up from the back.  
"We don't have to worry about that now." She informed him.   
"From what Sally told me about this new situation, it seems that someone hacked into our computers somehow." Heero explained.  
"But we just put them all in." Hilde mentioned.  
"I really don't know what happened too well. I'm sure she'll explain it better once we get there." He answered her shutting his eyes and leaning against the side of his seat.  
  
Once they got there, Quatre practically knocked Duo over when he saw him.  
"It's so great your okay. You wouldn't believe how boring things have been at the office without you visiting. You're never aloud to scare me like that again." He told him.  
"You? What about me." Sally said coming into the control room where they were.  
"I'm the one that had to try to find someone to take his place." She added.  
"Oh come on, you should know that no one can kill a Gundam Pilot." Duo smirked. "Oh yeah you might be getting a really big bill from a hospital on L3." He added.   
"We'll pay it but it'll come out of your paycheck." She replied. Duo dropped his shoulders and let out a sigh when she said that.  
  
"Well she won that one." He admitted sitting down next to Hilde. She just laughed at both of them. Once he had taken his seat and looked back up at Sally she smiled and added.  
  
"It's not coming out of your paycheck, don't worry. We'll take care of it.. I'm just glad you're alright." He straightened in his seat at that point..  
"That's a relief, I don't get paid that much." He said almost in a whisper to Hilde. Sally heard him and turned back to the both of them as he was still leaning over.  
  
"Now the condition you left Wing Zero in, that's another matter." She said seriously. He practically fell over. "Une wasn't too happy about that either." She also said. He had always been kind of afraid of Une so the thought of her not being happy with something and holding him responsible wasn't a good thing to hear. Trowa and Wufei came in and took their seats.  
  
"I heard you missed me Wufei." Duo said as Wufei sat as far away from him as possible. He just smiled a little and answered.  
"Yeah, cause there wasn't anyone to blame your mess on." Duo just sank in his seat.  
"You asked for that yah know." Trowa leaned over and told him. He just nodded back. Sally got everyone's attention.  
"Okay I know that you all have alot to catch up on but we have a serious problem here. Whoever hacked into our computer system was looking for instructions to rebuild Wing Zero. Also it would appear that the left over parts to it are missing." She informed them. No one really spoke up, they were all in shock that this matter wasn't caught until now.  
  
"Are there even any plans for Wing Zero on the computer system? I didn't see any before." Hilde asked referring to when she had helped them a while back.  
"The only plans on there are for the weapons and resources but still that's alot of information we didn't want out there for anyone to use." Sally explained.  
  
"Yeah, but was it in one of the locked files or what?" Heero asked. Sally shook her head.  
"No it got put into the wrong file. So it wasn't locked." She answered.  
"Hey is it possible that someone changed the program around?" Trowa mentioned. "That's the best idea so far but when would anyone have the chance to get in here and do that without getting caught?" Wufei brought up. Duo just leaned back and put his hands behind his head.  
  
"Did yah check the security tapes?" He suggested.  
"Nothing seemed to have happened in here and this would be the room to get that information." Sally replied.  
"But there are computer's in other rooms besides the control room though." Trowa reminded her. Duo sat up suddenly.  
"Just a sec. What about that guy that whiped out the system the first time?" He brought up. Sally stood there and thought about it.  
  
"We didn't bother checking those tapes now that I think about it. And there was a moment that no one was with him. That was when he messed up the system. He could have moved the file then, without us knowing about it." She realized. It made alot of sense to everyone else as well.  
"So we'll have to track this guy down and find out what he knows." Heero decided.  
"Okay I want you Heero, to see if you can trace this hacker and see what information was taken. Then I want Trowa and Quatre to take that information to devise a strategy. And then Heero and Duo can sneak in and get back the parts to Wing Zero." Sally decided. Duo slouched in his seat.  
  
"I can't believe we're going through all of this for that suit." He muttered. Heero glanced over at him but didn't say anything. Sally, Wufei, and Hilde all left the room to go to the bridge in order to check the tapes from when Wufei was training the new guy. Heero stood up and went over to one of the desks nearby and started checking the files. It was taking him quite a long time since this was the new system and he didn't know it as well as the other one. Trowa decided to help him out on one of the other computers nearby.  
  
"Did you check this section?" Trowa asked him. Heero glanced over at the other screen.  
"Yeah, it was a dead end." He answered. "Quatre, there wasn't anything left of the cockpit when you got it back, correct?" Heero asked Quatre who was leaning over Trowa to see what he was doing. He looked over at Heero.  
"Yeah pretty much. I mean all the important parts were unsalvageable." He explained. Heero stood up and headed for the door.  
"Where are you going?" Duo asked him.  
"We don't have to worry about finding this guy. Even if he does rebuild it, he doesn't have any of the parts required to start up the Zero system so it'll be useless."   
He explained heading out the door towards the bridge to let Sally know.  
***  
  
"But didn't they get the needed information about the Zero System?" Sally asked Heero after he had told her about what he had found.  
"There weren't any plans of the system on the computer. There was only the plans for the actual suit but not the Zero system." He explained. Hilde came up behind Sally.  
  
"We checked the tape and it seems that he knew what he was doing afterall. He had just enough time to steal the information." She said to Heero.  
"Well it won't do him any good though without the Zero system instructions." Wufei said standing up and walking over to them. Heero nodded in response.  
"And I'm the only one with that information so they can forget getting it from our computers." He added. Sally looked over at him a bit concerned.  
"But that means that they might come after you, depending on how serious they are about completing Wing Zero." She remarked. Heero shrugged and headed for the door.  
  
"I'll just have to go where they can't find me. I'm not the easiest person to find anyway." He pointed out and left to go to the shuttles. Trowa, Quatre, and Duo all entered the room as if they had overheard the entire thing.  
"So he's leaving I take it." Duo said referring to Heero. Sally nodded and looked down.  
  
"I still think we should track down this guy but considering he had no useful information, we can just drop the case for now. I need to go to New York anyway. There's a meeting there that I have to attend with Noin and Une. I'll leave Wufei in charge, the rest of you don't have to stay here either." She told them. They all gave her a look.  
  
"Don't you think that we should stick around just in case?" Quatre asked her.  
"If I need you, I know where to find you three." Wufei reminded them.  
"Somehow that's not very reassuring." Duo said back.  
"You don't have to worry about things here, I can handle it." Wufei answered back a little mad that Duo would question whether or not he was able to.  
"I wasn't talking about that. I'm talking about the fact that you can reach us whenever you want." He replied, yawning. Sally left the bridge and headed to her room to get packed. Everyone else went their separate ways.   
***  
  
When Duo and Hilde got home, they had just gotten through the door when the phone rang. Hilde had already sat down on the couch so Duo grabbed the phone.  
"Hello?" He called into it. "Oh hey Heero, I wasn't expecting you to call us." He added.  
"I just wanted to let your wife know that I arrived here safely." Heero explained.  
"Well it's good that someone does that around here. But of course you won't let us know where you are." Duo answered grinning at Hilde. She just shook her head and smiled to herself.  
"You know I can't tell you anyway." Heero remarked.  
"I'll let her know you called I don't think she's up for conversation right now. We just got home. Send us a postcard or something." Duo explained to Heero. They ended their conversation shortly after that.   
  
Duo joined Hilde on the couch.  
"That's kinda weird, him calling here to let us know he's okay but he won't tell us where he is." Duo mentioned sitting back.  
  
"Oh I know where he is. But I'm not telling you." She said to him. He gave her a look that said: 'and why not'.  
"You get captured too much and you might tell them where he is. Sally said they could go after him. I'm not letting anyone else know." She remarked. He looked disappointed.  
"And that's not going to work on me either." She added. He stopped looking at her that way.  
"It's not right the two of you having inside jokes." He sniffed crossing his arms infront of him.  
She just shook her head and got up to go to the kitchen.   
***  
  
Heero finished unpacking his clothes and went out into one of the sitting rooms. Relena sat there waiting for him. He had definitely missed being with her but didn't say anything about it. He just took a seat across from her.  
  
"So I guess this time I'm kinda protecting you, right Heero?" She asked shifting in her seat and taking a sip of her tea. He smiled slightly and nodded his response.  
  
"Guess so. But it's nice getting to come here. I was getting tired of space." He admitted. Relena let out a soft sigh and just smiled back. It had definitely been too long since they had enjoyed each other's company. She wasn't sure how long he was going to stay but that didn't matter to her. She was just glad to have him there.   
  
*The*End*  
  
Writer's insight-So I hope everyone enjoyed it. This is where most writers would threaten you to review. But I don't need to say any of that. I just have to death glare.-_- If yah'd like check out my other stuff.^.~ 


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